


The End of the World

by December_Flower



Category: Children of Bodom, Gojira (Band), Lamb of God (Band), The Dillinger Escape Plan (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Blood and Gore, Gen, Guns, M/M, RPF, just metal dudes kicking zombie ass
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-06 02:51:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 10,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8731960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/December_Flower/pseuds/December_Flower
Summary: The year is 2015. A lethal virus known as "Corpsemaker" has ravaged humanity, causing the infected to be regenerated as zombies. When the majority of the population has been eradicated, it's up to two brothers to venture out and find others willing to survive in zombie infested Richmond, VA.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Initially posted on Rockfic, but I'm putting a mirror here.

“Come on, Mario...”

A hushed, familiar voice whispered to him. Still trapped in the confines of sleep, he covered his head with the red blanket and turned over, his face by a gray metal wall. Something prodded his side and the voice continued to speak.

“We have to get up.”

“Ugh, just give me five minutes,” he muttered, groggy from several hours of rest.

“This is important, Mario. Every day counts from this point on.”

Mario turned over again and pulled the sheet, which had wrapped around his body like a cocoon, off from his head. Sitting at the edge of the bed by his side was his older brother Joseph. Joseph was already dressed in day clothes and appeared to have gotten up at least an hour ago. A black backpack hung over his shoulder. His expression was placid and friendly, even if he was disappointed that Mario did not get up earlier. Sunlight shone in through a window above and lit up the inside of the tight confine.

“Good morning. It feels good to be alive, doesn’t it?”

“Definitely.” Mario rubbed his eyes and sat up. His brown hair was a tousled mess, and he wore nothing but a pair of black shorts. 

“I need you to get dressed. I’m thinking of going out and looking for survivors. But I can’t go alone. You need to come with me.”

“Survivors? Like there would be anyone else left.”

“Be optimistic, Mario. We can’t be the only ones still living.”

He sighed. “You win, _grande frère_.” Mario rose out of bed as Joe exited the room. He opted to wear dark jeans and a black shirt with a design of the Vitruvian Man on the front. He changed his clothes and pulled on a brown hoodie he found hanging on a nearby shelf.

The brothers exited the isolated shed they called home and were met by the endless stretch of trees surrounding their shelter. The sky was clear and blue and it appeared to be just another pleasant spring day. Something about it felt off, as if the calm scenery was merely a facade, a mask hiding a tragic reality. It was only a short walk toward the nearest road, a simple dirt path extending in both directions. One could walk in a certain direction and end up in the middle of nowhere.

“It’s cooler than I thought it would be.” Joe shivered and rubbed his arm as he and Mario kept walking down the path, hoping to lead to some form of civilization. 

“I can lend you my sweater. I feel a bit hot anyway.” Mario pulled off his hoodie and passed it to Joe. “Thanks.”

Their peaceful stride took a strange turn when they were hit by an unpleasant smell. It was the assailing, pungent stench of death one would associate with rotting flesh. The brothers groaned in disgust as Joe covered the lower half of his face with a sleeved arm. Mario coughed and dry heaved at the side of the road, attempting to retch something up.

The odour came from corpses lining the road, some freshly deceased with bloody bite marks on the skin and some rotted away to bones and thin swathes of skin and muscle. Adults, children and the elderly; male and female, were lying around dead and decomposing. A pregnant woman was on her back, her unborn child exposed through her open stomach and was nothing else but bone and flesh. The only inanimate object in the pile of human remains was a small journal, a leather bound book no larger than a shoebox. 

“Hm? What’s this?”

“Mario, what are you doing? Those bodies could be contaminated.”

The younger brother nudged the book out of the pile with his foot, careful to not rip away any skin. With more caution, he picked it up with the tips of his fingers, trying not to vomit because of the odour. The book had grime on it that gave the surface an unpleasant stickiness. Joe and Mario were intrigued by the journal.

“Should I open it?”

Joe nodded. Mario flipped the cover open to a stack of lined paper. The lines were filled with fine, cursive script in blue ink. They took turns reading the text. Some parts seemed illegible.

“ ** _April 15, 2015_**

 _I just quit my job today. I witnessed my boss vomiting blood in the staff room before breaking out into seizures. My coworkers are mindless zombies, their only goal being to hunt us healthy people down. This virus is slowly taking us over, and it will be a matter of time until we are eradicated. My only goal is to survive, and I will do anything to protect those I love._ ”

Mario turned the page.

" ** _April 21, 2015_**

 _I am writing this from a warehouse in rural Richmond, VA. My wife has taken the kids somewhere else in the fear that I may have contracted the virus._ ”

He skipped over a large part that was scratched out. 

“ _...I have not heard from her in days._ ”

Several of the pages were torn and stained with blood. The final entry read, 

“ ** _April 23, 2015_**

 _Corpsemaker has gotten me. As I sit writing this surrounded by the people I knew and loved, I only wish that the future generation - if there is one, will know how to complete the cure for this horrible disease._ ”

The previous year, a deadly virus known as “Corpsemaker” was discovered. It was infamous for lethal symptoms ranging from persistent coughing to total organ failure as well as developing regenerative abilities over time. The disease was highly contagious, resulting in hundreds of thousands being infected daily. Humanity had taken several measures to prevent themselves from Corpsemaker. International flights were grounded. Land borders were closed. Nations were placed on lockdown while they fell into anarchy from the inside. In desperate attempts to find a cure, human experimentation was legalized in many countries. Civilians deteriorating from Corpsemaker were taken against their will and force fed concoctions created by the world’s leading scientists until there was an outcome. Many were proven unsuccessful as the population was reduced down to a mere fraction of what it used to be. Within a period of time, the world was now a desolate wasteland previously made imaginable through high-budget entertainment.

Mario dropped the book in shock. “Let’s go back. There’s nobody else out there.”

“Come on. We didn’t flee from Brooklyn to the middle of nowhere just to give up. Let’s go.”

“Did you not read what was in there? They just mentioned that humanity is fucking gone! There really is no hope…” Tears began to form in his eyes. 

Joe held Mario’s shoulders and gave him a shake. “Pull yourself together. We’re going to make it out alive. We’ll eventually find some sort of life around here. You don’t expect all 7 billion of us to be dead, right?”

“Hm.” The younger Duplantier gave in and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “Alright. But if I find out there’s no more living people, I’m feeding you to the zombies. Got it?”

“Not if I offer you out first, though.”

They exchanged a chuckle before continuing down the path to a new beginning.


	2. House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Do you think there would be people here?”_
> 
> _Joe observed the house with the banner. “Are you sure? You should be ready to defend yourself.”_
> 
> _“I guess. Let’s give it a go.”_

The journey from their shelter to a more built area lasted almost an hour, and the brothers did not realize how close they still were. During their travel on foot, they conversed between themselves about the disease, the people they left behind, and what they planned on doing to survive.

They soon found themselves approaching a stretch of small houses on either end of the road. The peaceful rural neighbourhood now resembled the slums of a third-world country. Many of the buildings were dilapidated and destroyed by anarchic attacks. Windows were shattered, doors were ripped down, and some roofs were left wide open. The words “ **PLEASE HELP US** ” were scrawled on one house’s front in black paint. 

Mario stopped in the middle of the road.

“Do you think there would be people here?”

Joe observed the house with the banner. “Are you sure? You should be ready to defend yourself.”

“I guess. Let’s give it a go.”

The front porch’s wooden floor creaked under their footsteps. The outer glass door was torn off its hinges, the pane smashed to tiny razor sharp bits. The doorknob was removed. Joe pushed the door inward to get in, but it refused to budge. He slammed his body weight against it three times, only for small cracks to appear in the white surface.

“Fuck it. Let’s go through the side.”

They climbed over the porch to the side of the house. “Wanna try that window?” Joe inquired.

“I’ve got this.”

Mario clenched his fist and delivered a vigorous punch to the window. The glass gave way, shattering inward and leaving a jagged hole looking into the house. After recoiling from the pain in his knuckle, he reached through and loosened the deadbolt. The window swung open and the brothers crawled in. They found themselves entering through the bathroom, which showed signs of neglect. The sink was stained with an unknown fluid and the mirror was broken. With no time to look around, they went ahead and tried to find any healthy people. All of the rooms were boarded up, leading them to the living room.

The house was simple and had belonged to a nuclear family; a mother, father and their three children. The ideal image of American domestic life hung on the den’s wall. A professionally shot photo of a Caucasian couple sitting against a deep green background with an infant on their lap. A young boy of around five years sat next to his mother while his older sister, an average looking girl of fourteen years stood behind. The family was dressed in formal white clothing.

The pure and wholesome atmosphere of the home was washed over with chaos and disorder. Any fabric surface in sight was stained with blood. Windows were heavily boarded and furniture was damaged. The walls were decorated with crimson handprints. The only light shone in through the open window, as the rest were heavily boarded up. The stench of death permeated throughout.

“Holy shit.” Joe whispered in disbelief under his breath.

The silence was broken by a low groaning sound. A “murr…” echoed from where the dining room was. They froze, Mario visibly shaking from the force of his heart beating.

“No no no no…”

“Shh… Just move back.” Joe instructed

The moan became a deep, inhuman growl as a human figure shuffled out from behind the entryway’s left wall. It was a man who bore the slightest resemblance to the father in the photo. His skin was a sickly bluish green tint. A brown shirt and jeans hung from his emaciated figure in strips of discoloured fabric. Most of his hair was gone and large sections of his flesh were rotted down to the bone, the lesions outlined by an orange crust of dry blood and pus. One of his eye sockets was a hollow void. The sentient corpse dragged itself toward the siblings, its actions being controlled by traces of the pathogen.

“We have to get out! Now!” Mario shouted in his state of panic, prepared to run out of the house.

“Panicking won’t get you anywhere! Take down the boards on that window!” Survival instincts began to take their course. Joe began to tear away at the wooden planks haphazardly nailed to a nearby window. His brother joined in, struggling to get even a nail out.

Mario felt an excruciating pain in his left arm, the sensation of his flesh being impaled in five different spots. The zombie in its bloodthirsty rage latched onto his victim, preparing to masticate on his sweet flesh and turn him into one of its own. The young Duplantier screamed at the top of his lungs and thrashed in self-defense, attempting to free himself from the grip. Once Joe retrieved a board to use as a makeshift weapon, the man had his brother in a crushing embrace, broken lips against its victim’s neck.

“Watch out, Mario!”

Joe swung the wood down on the zombie’s head wound. Blood clumped on his bludgeon, but the enemy did not feel pain and prepared to bite into Mario. In an act of desperation, he grabbed the zombie by the neck with his left hand and squeezed as tightly as the grip allowed him. Joe thrust the plank into the mouth to save his brother from being bitten. The zombie's teeth were like vice grips on the wood as the older brother broke the wood in half. He finished by driving the second half into the head wound. Gray matter oozed out from the gash as the zombie ceased movement.

“...Is it over?”

“Yep. It’s dead. Let me help you out.”

While the fingers buried in his arms lost their hold, fingernails were what kept them in place. Being as gentle as he could, Joe pried the digits out of his brother’s skin one by one before the body fell back on the floor. Mario, paralyzed with immense distress, was instructed to sit down and stay calm. Joe opened a pocket in his bag and pulled out a washcloth, a tube of antibiotic cream, and a roll of gauze. 

He started by cleaning blood away from the wounds. Mario began to hyperventilate, resisting his need to scream and clutching at his shirt. His eyes were teary and he was unable to speak. Joe never saw Mario suffer from a panic attack before and it made his duty of tending to him more difficult.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m going to help you. It wasn’t your fault.” he reassured, patting the cloth against his arm until the bleeding stopped. 

“It fucking was! I’m probably infected.”

“The virus can’t infect you through the skin. You need to be bitten. You’re going to be fine, Mario. I’m right here.”

He squeezed a small amount of cream on his finger, dabbing it onto the wounds while Mario calmed down. Joe wrapped a section of gauze over the area, leaving a snug band around his brother’s upper arm. Producing a switchblade from his pocket and cutting off the bandage, he tied it so that it would not come loose. After tending to Mario’s injuries, he held him in his arms and comforted him. Mario still trembled while he hugged back.

“Joe? Do you think there’s any more zombies around here?” A hand stroked through his brown hair.

“I doubt. If there are, you’re not alone. We’ll take a rest here overnight and keep looking tomorrow. I didn’t mean for it to end up like that.”

“That was kind of my fault. I wanted to check here anyway.”

“It’s nobody’s fault. Not anymore.”


	3. Leading to Somewhere

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The city is damaged beyond repair and the only place to stay is a hideout in the alley.

Mario was the first to wake up. Orange light from the dawn’s sun flowed into the room from the open window. The zombie that attacked him yesterday laid decomposing on the red carpet. The clock on the wall that was still working had indicated that it was 5:37.

Joe laid next to him, an arm wrapped around his sibling’s waist in a safe embrace. Because the furniture was bloody and unsafe to use, the Duplantiers slept on the ground near the door. The only clean sheet they found, a fluffy gray blanket, was draped over their bodies. Joe used the backpack as a pillow. The fact that they managed to make it through the night without being attacked startled him, but he was thankful for having someone there to help him survive.

From the aching in his head, Mario realized that he had not eaten much the day before and unzipped the bag without waking Joe. He rummaged around until he found two granola bars surrounded by a cloth. He tore away the wrappers and devoured them both within two minutes. The taste of berries and grains satisfied him, but he saved half of the last bar for his brother. He leaned against the wall and contemplated the many days he spent in unfamiliar places. They lived peaceful lives in France before Joe decided to move to New York a few years back. Mario tagged along after some coaxing, and that was when Corpsemaker hit the US. Before he knew it, Joe made him travel down south until they ended up taking refuge in a shelter in rural Virginia. Mario would have assumed that the disease’s controversy drove his sibling insane, but he realized it was for a good cause. The next step was to find the central area.

He resisted falling back asleep when Joe turned on his other side and yawned. “Are you up?”

“Mm-hmm. Good morning. Doesn’t it feel good to be alive?”

“...Didn’t I say that to you one day?”

Mario chuckled. “It’s about time the tables were turned.”

“That’s the spirit. I need a few minutes and then we’ll be on our way. How’s your arm?”

The younger brother ignored the dull pain lingering in his arm and shoulder. “I didn’t check. It’s healing though.”

“I have more cream and bandages in my bag. You should clean it out again later.”

“Sure.”

***

It was yet another day of walking to central Richmond. Joe worried that his legs would give out and he would lose his ability to move for a long time. They travelled in one direction with no twists or turns ahead. He was prepared to stop and take another rest when he heard his brother gasp with excitement.

“I see it! The city is coming near!” Mario pointed at the buildings in the distance with childlike joy. Joe rubbed his eyes to make sure it was not a mirage or convincing hallucination. He heard stories of people going insane due to the illness. Delirium and paranoia were telltale signs of Corpsemaker.

“That’s it? It looks a lot more different than it used to.”

Fishing the almost empty water bottle out of his bag, Joe took the final swig to satisfy his parched throat. “Hey! You could have packed a second.” Mario was angered that Joe finished the bottle.

“If it wasn’t for you complaining about feeling faint yesterday, there would be more than enough for us to drink. Also, I can only carry so much.”

“I ate this morning, at least.”

The buildings grew closer and closer, and the brothers soon found themselves striding the outskirts of urban Richmond. They passed suburban neighbourhoods where the houses were locked down and decaying. A dead dog laid in the front yard of the last home, its carcass bloated with maggots and other decomposers.

The city was a mess. The buildings were lifeless citadels composed of broken glass and walls that were more graffiti than brick or stone. Roadside vehicles were nothing but scraps of metal and rubber, many of them visibly burnt. Street signs were toppled over and metal posts were warped through constant damage. Rotting corpses were on the scene, human bones strewn on the sidewalks like rose petals at a wedding. The area reeked of the same deathly odor, something they grew immune to over time. More pleas for help and insults toward the government were expressed through flags hanging from buildings and spray paint in alleyways. In the distance, they got a glimpse of the State Capitol on the verge of collapse, its white pillars broken and large chunks of the building blown off. The area was washed over with a melancholic blue-gray tint.

Joe still believed that he was hallucinating, or if he had secretly contracted Corpsemaker and was starting to experience the insanity. Humanity did fall as low as he thought. Disturbing images of citizens revolting against the system and slipping into mayhem came to his mind. He could visualize the firebombs soaring through the air like shooting stars as people fell dead in the streets. Those corpses rising up to take down any prey in their path to devour their flesh while they still breathe. Martial law being declared only for the zombies to prevail, armies of the living dead growing at an alarming pace and acting as a godlike force defying any rule of nature.

He was thrown back into reality from his overactive train of thought when drops of rain tapped on his head. “Joseph? Ça va?” his brother called.

Joe looked up to see Mario ahead of him appearing concerned. “It’s going to rain. Don’t you think we should find shelter?” They only realized now that it was darker that it was earlier. Rain clouds obscured the sky in a slate coloured curtain, making the apocalyptic background even more bleak. The roar of thunder boomed above as raindrops continued to fall. Between a locked up cafe and an obliterated clothing store was a gap between the two buildings. “Follow me.”

Joe and Mario took to the alley when behind a dumpster full of bodies, they discovered a doorway on the side of the store’s building. The frame was intact with barbed wire attached over it. There was a flight of concrete stairs leading to a shadowed crawlspace beneath. Ignoring any curiosity that they had, they cautiously walked down the stairs to escape the ensuing storm outside.

The brothers remained silent as they maneuvered their way to safety, feeling around for any walls and steps obscured by darkness. Five minutes later, they made it to lower grounds as there was nothing ahead of them but space. The concrete walls at their sides ended at corners. Joe sat down at the steps, exhaling a breath with relief. 

The crawlspace broke its silence with a stirring sound. Heavy breathing was heard from far back in the room, followed by intelligible whispers by different voices. Mario could hear his heart begging to jump from his chest. Joe was prepared to fight back at the next disturbance. He removed the backpack from his shoulders in a search for his flashlight when the mechanical noise of a gun cocking emanated from the shadows.

A gravelly, baritone voice with a Southern drawl spoke to them with a tone of intimidation.

“ _That better not be a fuckin’ zombie._ ”


	4. Company

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _“Looks like we’re not alone in this.”_

“Please don’t kill us. We’re only here to help.” 

Joe found the flashlight and flicked the switch. A beam of artificial white light shot forward, illuminating the dweller’s face for a split second. He recoiled and they heard the sound of metal clanging around, as if he were in search of something. One click later, and the room was flooded with an orange-red light.

The crawlspace was transformed into a loaded bunker ideal for survival. A shelf braced up against the rightmost wall was stocked with non-perishable food items alongside personal memoirs. In the opposite corner was a black storage container stocked with various firearms and other weapons and garbage bags full of other materials were lined up against the wall. A dirty king-sized mattress was laid in next to the pantry. Two figures were covered under a thick blue comforter. The man stood in the corner, a copper lantern in his hand and a small rifle in the other. His straw-coloured dreadlocks were tied back and his aging features were accentuated by the harsh glow. His pale blue eyes were like ice.

“Randy?” Mario was startled.

“Oh my god! How are you guys still alive?!” Randy dropped the gun and placed the lantern on the storage container before rushing over to hug the brothers at once. His hold was tight and had a sense of longing and desperation. 

“Where were you all this time?” he demanded. Randy’s voice took on a waver, as if he was about to break down from joy.

“A shed in the middle of nowhere. We spent like three days trying to get here.” Taking a seat on the edge of the mattress, Joe went into details about their gruelling travel from their shelter and their altercation when a younger man with shoulder-length dark blond hair rose from the sheets. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes with a tattooed hand.

“Alexi, you know these two?” Randy introduced Joe and Mario back to him, hoping to refresh his memory.

“Long time, no see.” He smiled with pleasure.

Joe looked at Mario with excitement and said, “Looks like we’re not alone in this.”

“Come on, I know there’s way more people out there than all of us here.” Mario directed his attention toward their new companion. “So anyways, where did you come from? You’re the last person I would expect to see here.” He was curious as to how Alexi ended up in Virginia.

“We were on tour and this was one of our last stops before we went back to Finland. But then, our show was cancelled because shit went down.” As he told his tale, Alexi’s expression was frozen over with a melancholy similar to a veteran recalling flashbacks from a war.

“One of our roadies got turned into a zombie. I think he may have gotten it from one of the fans but he went fucking insane a day later. Most of our crew was affected and we didn’t know what to do. We burnt our tour bus and a lot of our gear went down with it.“

“Ouch.”

“I woke up one morning and I was forced to kill my bassist because he got infected and tried to eat me.” He gazed at his knuckles, both hands wrapped in bandages. Blood, scratches, gauze and tattoos marked his arms. “I beat him with my fists ‘til he stopped moving.”

The brothers felt their hearts collectively drop. They only knew Alexi from brief trysts every now and then, but he was a changed man, close to being a shell of who he was before the pandemic. He looked more muscular than he used to be and there was a hollow glint of distress his eyes. “I do what I can to defend myself and my friends. I didn’t want to kill him but what has to be done, has to be done.” 

“Don’t tell them what happened to Jaska.” someone grumbled from next to him. Alexi’s friend and former bandmate sat up next to him. His long hair was greasy and he wore a tattered green shirt. A white cloth patch covered his left eye.

“Looks like One-Eyed Janne just woke up.” Randy teased.

“Please, just call me Janne.”

“What happened to your eye?” Joe inquired.

“I lost it last week. It got clawed out when we were fighting off zombies. Now I’m half blind.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Well, I’m still alive. I’m kind of used to it, but it fucking hurt. A lot.”

Alexi felt the need to chime in. “So, what’s your story?”

“Both Mario and I used to live in France. I moved to New York about five years ago to try and start new things. I did all I could possibly do back home, so I needed a challenge.”

“And I came two years after him.” the younger brother cut in.

“Just before the US was hit. I heard of a corpse washing up on the shore from Russia and from there, people just started getting infected like crazy. We packed our things and got the fuck out of New York.”

“I heard from someone that there weren’t too many zombies down south and when we reached Virginia, we got lost and ended up finding a shed in the middle of a forest. We stayed there until it all blew over and next thing you know, everyone’s gone.”

“I lived in a cabin in the woods for a year back in France. I was used to it.”

Randy was in shock. “Jeez. You two just couldn’t get any rest at all. In fact, just stay here with us. If it wasn’t for you finding us, we would have gone crazy and killed each other.” He gave Alexi a threatening glare.

“What?”

“Nothing. I guess I haven’t told my story yet. I grew up here in Richmond. Virginia was one of the last states to get Corpsemaker but when it came, it came down on us hard. I witnessed two brothers eating each other in front of me.”

“Really? Who got turned first?” 

“Willie. I wouldn’t expect it to be Chris. It’s hard for me to imagine a vegetarian zombie.”

Mario turned to Joe and whispered, “Checkmate.” The older brother blushed.

“Sorry about that, Joe. Anyways, John still got affected but he died straight away and didn’t regenerate.”

“Why don’t all victims become zombies?” Janne asked.

“You only become one if you get bitten. If you contract the virus through other means, it wreaks havoc on your body and you die instantly. That’s why they had to call it ‘Corpsemaker.’ There’s fuckin’ corpses everywhere. Living and dead.”

“Wow.” Janne turned toward Alexi and continued to chatter toward each other in Finnish. “So that’s what happened to him…”

“Mark was here with us. But one day, he went missing while we were hunting and we couldn’t find him for days. Only last week, we found that he took his own life in a warehouse not far from here. He hung himself with a cable.” Randy did not shed a single tear. He was accustomed to seeing the people he knew die in such quick and brutal ways. There was very little he could do to stop them, but it gave him a reason to keep going every day. “Mark said he couldn’t take anymore of the suffering.”

Joe began to feel uneasy. His head felt heavy and his body ached. Despite the cool temperature of the bunker, he felt a discomforting warmth over his body.

“Oh god…” he muttered.

“Joe, are you alright?” Mario, along with the other three, was becoming scared.

“No… I don’t feel good.”

Joe sounded exhausted. His hearing became muddled as the voices speaking blended into one droning noise. His consciousness fell away as his sight blurred out, colours saturating in his vision. Everything faded to black once he slumped over in his seat, falling face first on the blanket. His consciousness diverted back to a part of his mind that he could not escape. But wherever it was, it was too far from the present.


	5. Company pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> " _Joseph? Can you hear me?_ "

“Joseph? Can you hear me?”

Someone called to Joe. He opened his eyes even though they still felt heavy. The only thing he could hear was his own breathing. His hazy state of unconsciousness faded when he found himself lying sideways on the mattress. Joe’s vision came back into focus and the black dots faded when he felt his face being wiped with a moist cloth. Janne looked over him and brushed off the sweat from his pale face.

“Am I dead?”

“No. You just fainted.”

“When was the last time you ate?” Alexi asked, observing a small handgun. After checking if it was loaded, he threw the firearm aside where it landed with a clang.

“I actually don’t remember.” Joe sat up slowly, his head still feeling light.

“You look fucking anorexic, dude. We’ve got plenty of stuff to eat.” He tossed a tepid bottle of water over to Janne, who gave it to Joe after cracking the cap. He downed the entire bottle in a few gulps.

“Better?”

“Thank you. I would have died if it wasn’t for us finding this place.”

“I made ramen earlier but I didn’t get a chance to have it. I forgot it was there, but you can have it.” Alexi held out a paper container with thin noodles and diced vegetables. After not eating properly for a long time, Joe snatched the cup from the Finn’s hands and devoured the noodles in record time. 

“You know Joe, that kind of happened to me when Janne and I ended up here. I passed out on the side of the road and he literally had to drag me into town. You doing alright?” Alexi wrapped an arm around Joe.

“A whole lot better. Thanks, Alexi. My brother and I were living off granola bars and water for over a week and I have no idea how we’re still alive. I’d rather be eaten by zombies than starve to death. Don’t tell Mario.” Joe did not feel this satisfied since the disease purged most of the country. He swore that he felt his original life come back to him in pieces, but it never felt complete. He thought of two other people that he knew for a long time, but they were not as close as they used to be. Joe could only recall that they went missing during the panic.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve had to put up with these fuckers for a long, long time. I’m already used to helping them.”

“So, where did my brother and Randy go?”

“We’re right here.”

Joseph turned his head to find Mario sitting next to Randy near the storage container. An open first aid kit was on the container’s lid as Randy reached in to get more gauze. He was tending to the injury Mario had on his arm after the attack, which had shown signs of healing. The wounds had healed into to pink dents in his skin even though dried blood still surrounded them.

“Does it hurt when I press down on it?”

“Not anymore. Thanks, Randy.” 

“So anyway, how did you guys find this place? Did you set it up yourself?” Joe felt more revived and shifted in his position. 

“Actually... this wasn’t ours to begin with. This place belonged to someone else but they probably got killed or ran off somewhere else. It was vacant when we got here. Mark and I wound up in the streets and we needed a place to hide from the zombies. It was fully loaded here, so this was our home when the world was going to shit. Then I found these two dudes and I let them know that there was enough room for them.” Randy closed up the kit and sat on the cold ground.

“It’s good. We knew each other anyway.” Alexi admitted.

“It’s so strange how we still managed to meet each other in the right place at the right time.” Mario rested his back against the wall. “I guess these kind of situations are good in a way. We were so far apart from each other and all of a sudden, we’re living with each other underground and fighting for our lives. It’s just so weird to think of.”

His older brother spoke up. “I’m quite sure there’s many other people living that way, too. You know, that’s how we all work. The authorities tried their best to get everyone together to fight the disease and the zombies, but it was way too much for us to handle. We tried so hard and yet countries have gone extinct and they never even found a cure.”

“I think if even there is a cure, it’d be fucking worthless. What more can you do if the corpses come back from the dead? What are you gonna do then?” A moment of silence passed over the men before Randy finished his statement. “That’s what I thought.”

“I’ve heard rumours of a cure. Except it didn’t work and people kept dying.”

“Absolutely. They just couldn’t control the virus. It seemed like every month, it was something totally new.”

“New? Like how?” 

“I mean it got worse over time. At first, you’re coughing and sneezing all over the place and by next month, you’re puking up your organs. Terrifying shit.”

“Thanks, Randy. I just ate.”

The relentless drum of rain faded down to gentle pattering as night fell over the outer world. All that could be heard was dead silence and the lifeless moans of the undead in the distance. In their base, the buzz of the lantern’s bulb was a quiet drone.

“Alexi, did you remember to secure the entrance? We gotta stay extra safe since we’ve got more company.”

“I’m on it.” He found a roll of barbed wire next to the pantry and headed up the stairs. Unravelling the wire and keeping his fingers away from the spikes, Alexi wrapped the wire around the long nails jutting out from around the entrance. The result was a taut spiderweb of jagged metal shutting off access to the hideout.

“That looks neat.” Mario remarked. “But are you sure it will keep them out?”

“It’s worked before. We faced a lot of the weaker ones so when they try to rip it open, it hurts them and they keep going at it until their skin comes out. Or they get tangled in the wire and starve. It was my idea.”

“And it’s a good one.”

“Alright.” Randy’s voice cut in, now sounding authoritative. “I’m glad we were able to meet back again.” He nodded toward the brothers. “Now, I think it’s about time we get some rest. Janne. Alexi. Do you mind splitting the mattress with these two?”

“I’d let them have it.” Janne agreed.

Alexi was not too happy with Randy’s proposition. “You have any more room in your sleeping bag?”

“I thought you were used to sleeping with another man.”

“Don’t you think that’s too much though?” He sighed and pulled a thin red blanket out from under the comforter. “Fine. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“Sounds fair.” Randy turned the switch on the lantern as the light flashed off, the room now in pure darkness. “Good night, everyone. I expect to see at least one of you up early.”


	6. Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “ _Have either of you used a gun before?_ ”

Staccato blasts of gunfire hammered through the morning quietness. Sunlight filtered in through the doorway and irradiated the staircase and hideout. Loud yelling woke Mario up.

“Merde!” he exclaimed, eyes darting open. Sitting up slowly, he leaned back against the wall and punched the bridge of his nose. He only assumed it was a bad dream. Mario looked over to find Joe still asleep on his right. Alexi laid face down on the floor by his left. Janne and Randy were gone.

He crawled forward to find the barbed wire gone from the entrance. More shots were fired, followed by, “I think that’s the last of them!”

“Great job, Janne.”

Alexi turned on his opposite side and yawned. “Wha-? He’s already up?”

“I think,” Mario whispered, trying not to wake Joe.

The Finn sat up, the sheet covering his lap. He appeared nude since the curves of his pelvic muscles narrowed down into the hem of the blanket.

“You see, Randy wants one of us getting up early to go check the area. Janne goes because I just can’t wake up early.”

“Well, I’m the same way. That makes two of us.”

“He has to force me to wake up. Many times, I lose my shit and try to shoot him while we’re out there but Randy gets mad and he’s like, ‘Stop it, we’re screwed if one of us dies!’ One time, I was so out of it that I lost my aim and nearly shot myself in the foot.”

Mario gasped, his eyes widening. “Oh my.”

They heard the two men talking above. “Yeah Randy, I’ll wake ‘em up.”

“Good. I gotta talk to them.”

Janne sauntered down the staircase and found Mario and Alexi awake while Joe was still asleep. He crouched down to their level. “Mario, I need you to wake your brother. Randy needs you for something. It’s important.”

“Got it.”

***

After struggling to get Joe awake and having a light breakfast, they exited the bunker to find Randy waiting in front of them.

“Good morning, you two.” He looked to Joe and placed a hand upon his left shoulder. “Are you doing okay?”

“Oh yes. A lot better. If only Mario didn’t wake me so soon…”

“Come on. If he said it was important, it is important!”

Randy held his arm out in a stopping fashion and cut them off. “Look, I’m sorry to interrupt your sibling rivalry, but there’s something I need to ask you both.”

“Yes?” the Duplantiers answered at once.

“Have either of you used a gun before?”

“No.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Just give me a moment.”

Randy disappeared down the stairs and came back five minutes later holding an AR-15 and a Glock 17 in each hand. He placed the black rifle in Joe’s arms and handed off the pistol to Mario. The younger brother looked down at the pocket-sized handgun and then to the large weapon next to him. The assault rifle appeared almost three times its size.

“Joseph? Can we switch?” he begged in a hushed tone. “Please?”

“Aw, is someone feeling insecure?” Randy took on a joking yet condescending tone before reverting to an authoritative bark. “Listen, once you get the hang of it, you two can use different guns.”

“Sure thing, sir.” 

“‘Sir?’ Come on. We know each other. No hard feelings.” Randy motioned toward Joe. “You’re up first. I’d like you to take aim at that dumpster.”

Joe moved next to Randy and stood a few feet away from the green disposal full of corpses. He held up the gun to the best of his knowledge; left hand resting on the grip behind the barrel, and the right on the handle with index and middle fingers on the trigger. 

“Am I doing it right?”

“You’ve almost got it. Move your left hand back a bit unless you want your fingers blown off…” Randy pulled Joe’s wrist back gently and had him raise the rifle higher. “Good. Now squeeze down on the trigger and open fire.”

The weapon was lighter than he expected it to be. Joe cocked his head, closing one eye and finding the perfect aim. One press of the trigger sent ammunition hurling toward the improvised target. “Whoa!” His brother backed up into the alley with a bewildered look.

As Joe held the trigger down, a stream of bullets escaped the straw-thin barrel and pierced holes into the green metal. Sharp, deafening blasts assaulted his ears. Joe watched his step and released the trigger as quickly as the gunfire let him. He held the rifle below waist level, resting the smoking barrel on the pavement and noticed the bullet holes in the dumpster’s side. Fluid leaked from the small cavities in the steel. 

“Oh my god…”

Randy and Mario smirked at once. 

“This is awesome! I can’t believe we didn’t get one of these!” Joe’s newfound sense of power gave him a strong pleasure he had long needed. His heart pounded with exhilaration and he felt tempted to attack the dumpster until it was a pile of twisted steel, mangled corpses and bullets.

“I thought you didn’t like using guns.”

“Are you kidding? This beats using a piece of wood any day!”

With a euphoric grin, he prepared to shoot again when Randy stopped him..

“Hold up. You should give Mario a chance. Then you can go wild to your heart’s content.”

Randy gestured toward Mario and had him come up and test his weapon. Joe stood off to the side and witnessed his brother shooting a gun for the first time. With arms outstretched and both hands at the grip, he aimed above the bullet holes made by Joe’s rifle and delivered one shot to the dumpster. Joe envied Mario’s confidence and he was impressed at how he took the pistol and started firing off bullets with a few pushes of his finger. The shells popped out and fell to the ground with rhythmic clacks. Like an outlaw in an old-time Western movie, Mario took the firearm in his right hand only and shot again, only for a pain to strike his forearm. He dropped the Glock and held his aching wrist.

“Ah!”

Joe burst into laughter. “If I were you, I’d just practice with both hands.” Randy remarked. “You two do have it. It took a while for Alexi to get the hang of it, and now he’s one of the most skilled marksmen I know.”

“Yeah?”

“Of course. You gotta see him to believe it. That man can work an AK-47 like a soldier.”

“We’re all soldiers anyway. And our opposition is the undead.” Joe said proudly.

“Wise words, brother.” Randy bumped fists with Joe before glancing down to the bunker.

“Alexi! Janne! Bring your guns and get up here.” he shouted down the staircase. The two Finns followed their leader’s command and emerged from the basement, completing the group circle. Alexi was tidy and ready for battle, dressed in a black Sepultura shirt with the sleeves torn off and cargo shorts. A rifle hung over his shoulder from an olive-coloured sling. Janne’s hair was tied back and a gray strip of fabric obscured his useless eye. A holster attached to his hip concealed a Sig Sauer P229, his weapon of choice since the accident.

Randy spoke to the four as if he were a general instructing his army. 

“Alright, here’s how things are gonna go. We’ve got Joseph and Mario with us now, so you don’t have to feel pressured to kill every zombie in sight. But I’m not asking you to pawn your work off on them. Even if they seem competent enough to take them on, you still need to do your part. You’re not only defending yourselves, you’re defending all of us”

“C’mon Randy, I don’t always do that.” Alexi complained.

“Then what happened last week?” Janne glared at his comrade. The single glint was enough to intimidate him.

“Hmph. Wasn’t my fault.”

“Enough! I hope you’re all ready because we’re heading out today. Richmond’s far from safe.”

“...Got it.”

“This is so exciting. I can’t believe we’re actually going to shoot down zombies. It’s just like the movies.” Joe held the AR-15 up and glanced at Mario with a sense of eagerness. The younger brother felt fierce and ready to take on armies of the undead. They knew that these experiences would bring them closer as siblings and they were ready to make them worth it.


	7. Living vs. Dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> " _These zombies are quick. They’ll just come to us._ "

“How far are we gonna go?” Alexi took the rifle off his shoulder and cradled it in his arms. 

“We don’t have to travel too much. These zombies are quick. They’ll just come to us.”

The men prowled the broken streets like a pack of wolves with Randy acting as the alpha. A Remington 870 rested in his hands, the shotgun loaded and ready. The unmistakable scent of zombie still lingered in the air as they passed buildings. Many of them were repurposed into improvised shelters. Couples, families and groups hid behind debris and watched the squad walk through zombie territory with their heavy weaponry.

“Mommy, look at those guys with their guns!” a young boy cried out from within.

“People like those are here to help us from the zombies. Stay back, I don’t want you to get hurt.” His mother stayed huddled in the corner and kept him near.

“They’re probably Z-Com volunteers. I hear no one else in this state’s division survived.” a man in the same building said.

“Z-Com?” Joe was away from society for such a long time that he was unaware of the term.

“Some organization they created to try and defend the world. We’ll talk about it later.”

Unsettling ambience tainted the atmosphere. No matter where they went, the sounds of the undead crying out for redemption still resonated around them. Just around the corner leading to the next street, Randy stopped, as did the four men behind him. He peered around to the other side.

“Shit…” he muttered under his breath.

“What, are they coming?” Joe inquired.

“Not only that, but there’s an army of them! Did any of you reload before we left?”

“I’ve got extras.” Alexi pointed to his right pocket.

Randy noticed the zombie horde draw in closer. He faced more than one wave of them by himself and with others backing him but all of those times, at least one of his comrades endured a near-death experience. As long as they were alive and kicking, and with two more capable fighters on his side, he was ready to take them on.

They were easily outnumbered by around forty living corpses, lead by the remains of an elderly man. His face was torn off, exposing the deep red muscle underneath and his eyeballs were white spheres with a blank gaze. Behind him were the young and old, returning from the dead to attack the living. The odour that riddled the air got stronger as the army came closer and became as intoxicating as smog. A cacophony of lifeless moans and screeches approached them.

“We need to back up, right?!” Janne tried to keep his voice quiet. Randy took a few steps in the reverse direction when he gave his next command.

“Listen, I want you all to line up across the road and have at it when they get here. Understood?”

“Yes!” they answered in unison. 

“By the way, go for the head.” Alexi advised.

Once the horde approached and staggered toward the five men, they got into assembly like trained soldiers in a war. They opened fire once they heard Randy yell “Go!” and the sounds of the undead were accompanied by the dissonant clashes of gunfire. Alexi sprinted off in the opposite direction, but nobody said a word or stopped him.

Janne twisted his head slightly to the left to get a clear view of the zombies and he pulled the handgun out of its holster. Cocking the hammer, he put his right index finger on the trigger and fired off a trail of ammunition toward the horde. Bullet shells popped out of the back and hit the ground with a systematic _click-click-click_. One hit the forehead of the leader as the body collapsed, dead for good.

Mario followed suit and held his Glock outward. Remembering Randy’s instructions, he imagined the mob as the dumpster of corpses, but larger, smarter, and ready to kill him. Suppressing his fear, he focused on taking aim and found himself directly shooting any corpses right in their head. He felt like an automaton assigned with the duty of saving humanity, and his trepidation diminished as he witnessed zombies falling dead. Before he knew it, he found himself wading through streams of fire and taking down anything in his path. 

Joe aimed at a trio of female zombies and took their lives with two to three bullets to the head. He chose to be conserving with his ammunition; tapping the trigger down and then moving back a few steps before shooting again. One of the corpses still staggered toward him despite the gunshot wound on her forehead. With pent-up adrenaline and testosterone flowing through him, Joe kicked the zombie straight in the chest as she fell over and ceased movement. A twisted grin curled across his face as he stepped over her, bones cracking under his foot like autumn leaves.

“Nice one, Joe!” Randy grinned with a warrior’s spirit and cocked his shotgun. “But have you seen this?!”

Randy targeted the body of a man in his forties and delivered one load of buckshot to his head. The force of the heavy projectile caused half of the zombie’s head to be blown off, the top half of his skull flying off and hitting the ground several metres behind him. Flakes of congealed blood fluttered to the ground. Joe stood in his tracks, frozen with shock. His eyes were as wide as they could be and his jaw was open. He cupped a hand over his mouth.

“No way!”

“Yes way.”

Joe found himself distracted when a fallen body dragged itself toward him, skeletal hands grasping his ankle. He gasped and pointed the barrel down, terminating the zombie before it could get him. “Joe!” he heard his brother shout.

Mario already had scratches on his face and body, the bandage wrapped around his shoulder gone. “Don’t stop now! There’s some behind us!” He turned around and shot down two more zombies.

Janne pulled an extra cartridge out of his pocket and reloaded before turning around in a haste. “Where the hell is Alexi?”

“Heads up, motherfuckers!” a voice bellowed from above.

The four men stopped shooting and turned their heads to find Alexi perched atop the small building on their right. He unleashed a torrent of projectiles from his AK-47 and many of their enemies fell right before their eyes. They dodged the irate swarm of bullets when Alexi held the trigger down and sprayed the battlefield until he felt the click of an empty magazine. Pulling the hollow magazine out of his rifle, he dug into the left pocket of his shorts and withdrew a full set of bullets in a curved container. Clipping the magazine in, he continued his assault. Nothing in his life felt more invigorating than gunning the undead down with some of his favourite people. He felt like a character in a video game, and he played hard to win.

As Joe shot down two teenaged corpses, he ran out of ammunition. Turning around, he gave the final blow to a male zombie by swinging the AR-15 like a bat and striking it in the wound on the side of his head. The smoking barrel melted some of the skin from his head and flesh stuck to the side in a thin, burnt strip. The final enemy was shot by Randy and their long battle had come to a close. The road they stood on was carpeted with stinking, decomposing bodies laden with shells of brass. Alexi lowered himself from the building as he hung off the edge of the roof by his fingers. He climbed downward from a window and slid off a green panel when he stepped down onto a glass table. Joe wiped away perspiration from his forehead.

“And that’s that.” The brothers high fived with triumph before Mario gave Joe a tight hug. “That was a lot of fun.” 

“I’d say I enjoyed this fight the most. My work with you two definitely payed off.” 

Janne slid the pistol back in its holster and sat against the brick wall. He gasped to catch his breath and adjusted the cloth over his empty eye socket. His face was flushed and clammy and blood pounded in his ears when he withdrew from the excitement of his indignant zombie-killing spree. 

“Janne, you alright?” Alexi crouched next to him, pushing some wild strands of hair back from his face. 

“Hah…” Janne continued to pant heavily. “I’m out of breath already…”

“Give him a moment, Alexi. He’ll be up in a few.” Randy dusted off gunpowder from his hands and held his shotgun in his right hand. “It’s about time we return to base.”

Randy saw the brothers striding back in the opposite direction. Alexi went off in their direction at a pace above normal walking speed, shouting “Hey, wait up!”

The American held his hand out to Janne. “Here.” He helped to lift him up and they returned to their home with the other three far out front.

“We aren’t really in a rush. Other people should be out protecting themselves, too."


	8. Z-Com

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> " _So, can you tell me what Z-Com really is?_ "

“Well, that was a trip.”

Leaving the remnants of their fight behind, Joe kept his AR-15 on his back and continued down the path leading back to the bunker with dull pain in his upper body. Next to him was Mario, pushing misplaced strands of hair back from his face. His arms were more scratched up than they were earlier and a long scar extended from his elbow to his wrist. Their faces were covered with a thin layer of sweat.

“It was worth it. I never felt this alive since being on stage with you.”

Joe realized that he did not forget entirely about Gojira. The band was the major force that kept the brothers connected and with the uprise of the disease and its consequences, the world needed to give up art in favour of survival. With civilization hanging onto the last threads of life, they had no choice but to surrender the dream and accept survivalism. Joe kept the story of how Alexi dealt with losing bandmates at the back of his head and wondered how Randy coped with Lamb of God’s sudden demise. A choking feeling hit the back of his throat and he almost stopped in his tracks.

“Joe? Are you… crying?”

“No.” The older brother wiped his face with the back of his hand and turned left. They heard a sound behind them of quick footsteps hitting the ground along with laboured breathing. Alexi had managed to catch up with them, leaving Janne and Randy far behind them. 

“Couldn’t you at least wait for me?!”

“Took you long enough.” Joe said with indifference lingering on his tongue.

“Hm. What’s with him?”

“I’m not sure either. I’ll talk to him when we get there.” 

Joe appeared absent-minded and lost in his own thought, as he began to trail behind Alexi and Mario. The Finn lead him to the alley as Joe followed behind them.

“You two go on ahead. I’ll wait for them.”

Mario and Alexi went down the stairs, excited that they made it back alive. Alexi was used to the feeling of having to gun down zombies and return to his bunker in exhaustion. Mario had remained in isolation with his brother for months, having no complex experience in combat until now.

Alexi flopped face down onto the mattress with Mario laying supine next to him. He rolled on his side toward the Frenchman and smiled with a sense of affection.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t get to know each other better. You’re a great person. Joe must be proud of you.”

Mario chuckled at Alexi’s compliment. “Thanks. You’re a lot more different than what I heard. Like, you always know what you’re doing and you definitely kicked ass out there. I would never expect you to get up on that building and shoot them.”

“It took lots of practice. Randy can do it as well but I don’t think you’ve seen it as yet. He put me through a lot of shit.”

“Tell me.”

“I had to learn how to climb buildings and get back down as fast as I could. I had to do it with every one on this street. He was also the one who showed me how to shoot guns and defend myself if I didn’t have anything. I remember I had to fight him as practice and he beat me many times. It’s way more than I say it is. And the climbing thing? One time, I passed out when I reached the top and Randy and Janne had to carry me out through the building.”

“Ugh. That sounds like torture.” Mario was already envious of Alexi’s skill, but he refused to imagine the hardcore training Randy put he and Janne through.

“And you know what? I’m still here thanks to him.”

“I could imagine. Randy is a great guy.” Mario’s attention diverted to Alexi’s shirt. “I didn’t know you liked Sepultura.”

Alexi glanced down and pointed at the design, which only consisted of Chaos A.D’s cover art. “Oh, this? That was Randy’s, but he let me wear it. They’re okay, but I wish I actually gave them a chance.”

“My brother knew their vocalist, Max. He was a nice guy, but I doubt if he survived.”

“Yeah. I heard he was pretty cool.” The Finn shifted in toward Mario and gently held his left arm. “We’ve only known each other for a few days and already, I really like you.” He spoke with a sincerity that seemed almost out of character for him.

“In that way?” Mario’s cheeks went pink. Did Alexi really want more from him?

“Maybe. You may never know.”

Their moment was cut short when they heard Joe and Randy conversing from above. Mario and Alexi sat up from their positions and watched their comrades come toward them. All five of them gathered again as Janne sat cross legged in front of the pantry, Randy on top of the storage container and Joe in between his brother and Alexi. Joseph still had a hint of sadness on his face.

“Are you okay with telling me what’s wrong?” Mario smiled as a way of trying to make Joe feel better.

“I’m fine. I just thought of Jean-Michel and Christian.”

“I don’t think they’re dead. Maybe they’re out there somewhere. I know they can survive on their own.”

Randy took out a washcloth and a half empty bottle of water. He poured an amount of clean water on the corner of the cloth and wiped his face. Joe found himself distracted from his negative thoughts when he saw the taped up flyer on the wall behind Randy. The mini poster resembled classic propaganda signs of the mid-early 20th century and featured a side view of a man's silhouette holding out a pistol toward a group of zombies. The background was a deep blue and above the image were the words “ **JOIN PROJECT NIGHTWATCH AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE** ” in white text. Below the printed command were the logos for Project Nightwatch, a crescent moon with an axe through it, and Z-Com, a red ‘Z’ within a thin circle.

Breaking the silence, he asked Randy, “So, can you tell me what Z-Com really is?”

Randy turned his head to see the poster behind him. “Oh… Oh yeah. We were going to talk about this.” He cleared his throat.

“Sometime last year, or the year before that, the UN started funding this huge project called ‘Z-Com,’ which was supposed to be our attempt at fighting back against the zombies. They started by putting up bases in countries that were about to fall apart and gave them as much support as they could.”

None of this was unfamiliar to Joe but he never seen or heard of the inner workings of Z-Com before. “Interesting.”

“Each country had their own division with a special codename and a certain way of tackling things. We just happened to be called ‘Project Nightwatch.’”

“Why ‘Nightwatch?’”

“The zombies used to come out only at night, but now they can stand any time of the day.” Janne removed the cloth from his face. Where his left eye used to be, the lids were shut tightly, only showing a paper thin slit of white. The area around it was redder than his complexion. The brothers cringed upon seeing what happened to Janne.

“Yeah. That looks like it would have hurt.” Mario said under his breath.

“Z-Com made the government set up a few bases in each state. If I remember correctly, there’s roughly around 450 bases in the whole country. Alaska and Hawaii only have one but California, New York and Texas had ten. It was based on volunteering, people signed up to do things like give shelter and kill zombies. Mark signed up to help here but the bases here disintegrated within two months.”

“Then why did the whole country go under if we prepared so much for this?” the young Duplantier inquired, his voice taking an incredulous tone. “The Walking Dead should have taught us a thing or two!”

Alexi chortled. Randy glared at him once again before he went silent and continued to tinker with his gun. 

“The disease was unpredictable. The zombies kept getting stronger and we had no idea why. America tried to balance their priorities but because we live in a fucking nanny state and we’re all about keeping everyone alive and that ‘all lives matter,’ that’s why the country’s pretty much dead. We live in anarchy now. There’s some fucked up people out there, so I advise you not to trust every person you meet. You can either meet a new friend, or get yourself killed.” 

Joe was left in shock after Randy’s spiel on the bastardization of mankind, but even more so on what kind of person he had become. He spoke with a sense of paranoia that came off as unsettling and he was unwilling to cooperate with anyone else aside from the only few men he knew, and even they were becoming too much for him. Joe and Mario were Randy’s saving forces and they made him more comfortable with living in an actual version of hell.

The Frenchman sighed and looked down at the mattress below him. He found himself fixated on an elliptical brown stain that looked like blood. He still thought of the zombies and how innocent people had their lives taken and destroyed by those abominations. The sight of blood became a normal sight to him. He was never phased by it since.

“Joe?” Randy showed true concern.

“What?”

“Joe, you’ve been pretty miserable since we came back. Do you want to talk about it?”

“I just thought of certain people. People I used to know.”

“What more could be done? This was all out of our control. I too wish I could have saved Mark. He didn’t deserve all of this.”

“Neither did Henkka.” Alexi muttered.

“You see? We’re all missing someone. You two can’t be the only ones.”

Joe nodded in agreement. “I guess as long as we stay together, we can stay alive. I trust all of you.”


End file.
